Bodies On The Line From Brave Blackpool Thirds
| Saturday 23 February 2013 | ||||||||||
| 11:30 | A | OS | Men’s 2s | 0:1 | Ormskirk 1s | NWHL Div 5 N | ||||
| 12:00 | H | StPk | Men’s 1s | 1:6 | Carlisle Men’s 1s | NWHL Div3N | ||||
| 12:00 | A | RS | Ladies 2s | 0:3 | Rossall 1 | LCWHA Div 1 | ||||
| 13:00 | H | StPk | Ladies 1s | 3:2 | Lytham St Annes Ladies 2s | LCWHA PD | ||||
| 16:00 | A | THC1 | Men’s 3s | 2:2 | Timperley Men’s 5s | NWHL Div 8 N | ||||
| Sunday 24 February 2013 | ||||||||||
| 10:00 | A | USA | U13 Girls | Springfields Girls U13 | LCWHA U13 | |||||
| 10:30 | A | USA | U13 Girls | Longridge U13 Girls | LCWHA U13 | |||||
| 13:30 | A | WELL | Men’s 3s | 7:4 | Urmston Men’s 3s | NWHL Div 8 N | ||||
Mens 1’s
Blackpool Men’s first team produced a lacklustre display on a snowy day at Stanley Park going down 6-1 to Carlisle.
The visitors dictated the pace of the game from the outset, with Blackpool struggling to play the ball out of defence. After some sloppy play, Carlisle took the lead after only 5 minutes, and Blackpool knew they were in for a tough afternoon. Carlisle’s second came from a penalty corner, and their lead was increased on the stroke of half time, just as Blackpool were beginning to play their way back into the match.
The second half saw a dramatic change of impetus from Blackpool as they dominated the opening 10 minutes. Their high press finally pressured the resolute Carlisle defence into an error leaving Dave Morgan to sweep in a finish from close range. Blackpool came within inches of cutting the lead to just one when a penalty corner flew the wrong side of the post, but the glimmer of hope was soon gone as Carlisle hit on the break for a fourth. To their credit, Blackpool continued to push for a goal that may have got them back into the game, but Carlisle soaked up any pressure and added two further goals to run out comfortable winners.
Men 2’s
NO REPORT SUBMITTED
Mens 3’s
Blackpool Men’s third team picked up the club’s only point of the day against Timperley, coming from two goals behind to earn a 2-2 draw. After a slow start in the cold conditions, Blackpool soon found themselves up against it as a strong home Timperley side hit two good strikes past Stephen Pope in the Blackpool goal. Andrew Mortimer linked up with Josh Boyne to pull one back for Blackpool, but their hopes were dampened when Nick Aziz was forced off with a suspected broken arm after taking a blow from a Timperley stick. Blackpool battled on and finally found an equaliser through Simon Allen at a penalty corner. Both sides pressed for a winner, but Pope came to the rescue for Blackpool with some fine saves earning him man of the match.
The thirds rounded off a good weekend by beating Urmston 7-4 to climb to sixth in the table on Sunday. Captain Alex Diver inspired the team with two well taken flicks inside the opening ten minutes. However his day was cut short after being hit by a high ball and the subsequent fall causing him to tear ligaments in his ankle. Blackpool soldiered on with 10 men with Josh Boyne continuing his impressive run of form with an excellent finish to a perfectly weighted pass from Nathan Woodman. Urmston pulled one back but this was immediately cancelled out as Ian Swaine showed his class as he danced through the home sides defence for Blackpool’s fourth. Nick Rainbow showed off his outfield skills for a change as he beat the Urmston goalkeeper one-on-one to put Blackpool 5-1 up at the break.
As the players began to tire from being a man down, Urmston rallied to score two goals and the momentum was swinging in favour of the home side, until Rainbow grabbed his second with a deflected strike. He then completed his hatrick thanks to some help from Boyne, and despite a late consolation goal from Urmston, Blackpool left, albeit via the hospital again for some, with a well earned three points.